Crestmont Village officially shutdown for good

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - It's official. The notorious Crestmont Village is shutdown. The city relocated close to 200 people. Every unit is boarded up.

It took a lot to get to this point. The city helped people financially with the move. Mayor Annise Parker called the closing bittersweet.

The mayor took a final tour around Crestmont Village. There's not much to see, but still this place speaks volumes.

"The good news is, the complex will not house people in substandard conditions," Parker said, "But it's not so good because it's not the only bad complex across the City of Houston."

The mayor says Crestmont shows there's a need for more affordable housing in the city. Three weeks ago a judge ordered the complex shutdown after a long history of crime, drugs and being run by who the mayor calls a slumlord. A good number of people have criminals records. Mayor Parker says everyone deserves a second chance.

"We understand we have to work on that aspect of finding more clean, decent safe housing for everybody who wants to live in Houston," Parker said.

For others it was a matter of money. Friday morning 9 units rushed to move out.

"When that A-rocket truck get here when gonna be very happy," Ed Jones said.

"Actually we excited to get out of here so we gonna be good. We gonna try to bless everybody because everyone not fortunate to get outta here and have a place to go," Sheila Smith said.

The city says fortunately they relocated 83 units but neighbor's say they'll see to it everyone is taken care of.

"I think there might be one, two people who don’t have a place to go but somebody gonna help them. I promise they won’t be left behind," Jones said.

The city says they are still trying to determine whether to bulldoze the complex or sell it to a private owner to rehab.